Marketing Travel to Women: Get Smart About Apps
April 25, 2013 § 1 Comment
It is becoming hard to say travel without talking about mobile devices today. By 2014, smartphones and tablets are on track to capture nearly one in five travel dollars. And those who are marketing travel to women should take note of some of the opportunities and challenges.
Travel Decisions Made by Women
Some 80% of all travel decisions are made by women and 40% of travel is planned using a mobile device. The tablet is the preferred device for planning travel and the smartphone is the choice for booking trips while on the go. In fact, three-quarters (76%) of us reach for the smartphone when booking travel on the go.
Poor Mobile Experiences
So you know the drill – you are traveling and something happens to cause you to change your airline reservations. You go to your handy app. But you have a hard time loading the information, it gets confusing and then, you just call the airlines or the hotel or the car rental or the restaurant because it was a hassle figuring it out on that handy app. It’s happened to me before – and apparently, lots of others. A ResearchNow study released by Mobiquity shows the top negatives:
- 60% of smartphone owners, 52% of tablet owners found mobile travel sites slow to load
- 51% of tablet owners rated search and selection options on travel apps as complicated
- 20% of tablet owners were disappointed the apps were not integrated with their loyalty programs
Poor mobile experiences can cause travelers to take an alternative course and could result in decreased revenue for travel brands. More than a third (35%) of connected travelers would be less likely to book again with the travel brand after a slow, confusing of non-optimized experience when research or booking travel on a mobile device. Some of the issues in addition to slow load time are complicated search and selection, poor navigation, not linked to loyalty programs or not designed.
Top Mobile Travel Apps
The top mobile websites mostly include airlines and travel aggregators, such as TripAdvisor and Priceline.com. Of the 8% of iPhone users that use travel apps, the top airline apps are:
United Airlines (1.6%)
Southwest Airlines (1.5%)
Fly Delta (1.3%)
American Airlines (1.3%)
JetBlue (0.5%)
Some of the other popular apps for travel are included in the following infographic:
Related articles
- Travel fragmentation is extending to mobile (tnooz.com)
Marketing to Women: Mobile Advertising Yet?
April 23, 2013 § 1 Comment
Smartphones now comprise 57% of the mobile market in the United States. By next year, there will be more mobile devices than there are people in the world and more mobile phones than desktop PCs.
With all that mobile action, why then is mobile advertising not growing as fast as smartphone adoption? According to IAB, some 53% of agencies say they don’t have experience in mobile advertising. And 70% say they would purchase more if clients understood it better. Translation: Agencies and clients need to go to school on mobile.
The Google Factor
So here’s a tip for all the late adopters: Mobile ads work! Or at least that’s what Google says. Mobile ads appear to be the most effective paid method of driving page likes, and Google reports that smartphone users are unusually responsive to advertising. Forty-two percent of users click on mobile ads they like, found the Mobile Movement: Understanding Smartphone Users survey. Of those, 49 percent go on to make a purchase, while 35 percent visit the advertiser’s site, and 27 percent call the business in question. A lot of that clicking is on local sites; 95% of people look for local info on their smartphone.
All that smartphone usage leads to smartphone shopping. While strolling the aisles, 49% of us compare prices, 44 percent read reviews of stuff while we shop, and 34 percent are using their phones to check the store’s inventory.
Gender differences in shopping: In a new study by Millennial Media and comScore, findings show men are more likely to use phones to check product availability, compare prices, find deals or make online purchases. Women are more likely than men to use phones in stores to text or call friends about products, send pictures of products, or research product features.
Mobile-Optimized Sites and Apps Necessary
Those that will win in mobile will have sites that are responsive and won’t have roadblocks like Flash. I was working with a client recently, and I tried to view her website on my iPad. Because her site was built in Flash, it was not at all accessible on any Apple devices.
Right now, people spend more time on apps than mobile websites. Tablets seem to be the online shopping tool of choice. Important features include side-by-side product comparison, 360-degree zoom, customer ratings, and an easy checkout process are most important to shoppers.
So let’s go mobile!
Marketing to Women: Women Still Dominate Retail Shopping
April 13, 2013 § 1 Comment
A new report from Nielsen confirms that women still control the spending power in the US. Some people estimate that we control $5-15 trillion annually. Now, I know that saying women still dominate retail shopping is like saying that it still snows at the North Pole, but there are some shifts going on that are interesting.
The report points out that men are taking a more active role in the shopping process than they have in the past. Woo-hoo! Between 2004 and 2012, U.S. women reduced the number of trips they made across most retail channels, while men increased their visits to all outlets except grocery and drug stores.
However women are still spending more money per trip than men in all shopping channels. Women drive the larger stock-up or planned trips and outspend males by $14.31 per trip in supercenters and by $10.32 per trip in grocery stores.
So basically, women are still doing the majority of shopping, but the data tends to suggest that men are beginning to assume more shopping duties beyond the trip to the convenience store for beer and chips.
Talking to the female shopper is more important than ever. So those at Nielsen are concerned, like we are, about the emotional and rational content of marketing and advertising messages.
Women remember more and differently than men do, so talk to both her emotional and rational sides and acknowledge her attention to detail. Layering emotional decision-making opportunities with rational information will increase purchase intent and will have strong “sticking” power. According to Nielsen NeuroFocus, the female brain is programmed to maintain social harmony, so messaging should be positive and not focus on negative comparisons or associations.
In other words, women form value opinions based on both emotional and rational reasons to buy. That’s why the Darth Vader spot for Volkswagen was a game changer. It spoke to both men and women about the special moments of family life yet focused on a buying feature of the car. And yes, women are the buyers of most cars too.
Marketing to Moms (and Dads): The State of the American Mom 2013
March 26, 2013 § Leave a Comment
The 2013 State of the American Mom report is out – and interestingly, they actually looked at opinions of both Moms and Dads.
Here are some of the results important for marketing to moms – and dads:
Men shop around too. An equal amount of Moms and Dads, 78% and 76% respectively, shop at more than one grocery store weekly. Most make the extra trip for the best sale prices.
Smartphones are the tool of choice. Almost 60% of moms have a smartphone, compared to 44% in 2011. It is certainly the primary organizer of life. The report shows Moms are playing games (64%), looking up stores/locations (58%) and finding nearby restaurants (50%).
Baby wants a smartphone and a laptop too! Of course, you know children won’t even know how to turn pages in a magazine or a book. 43% of Moms report their children start using a laptop or desktop at 3 – 6 years, and 25% of Moms say that’s when they start using a phone or tablet.
What are the trends behind these facts?
Multichannel Shopping. Consumers are challenging retailers and brands to keep up with their multichannel shopping behaviors. Two-thirds of all shoppers regularly use more than one channel to make purchases. While the Mom report is talking about physical grocery stores, many are shopping online, warehouse stores, farmers markets, specialty stores and grocery stores to fill their pantries. Some 70% still use bricks and mortar stores, but 47% are online. And all research begins online before those “reality” shopping trips.
Life on a Smartphone. We just feel smarter with a smartphone. Nielsen says in their 2013 Mobile Consumer Report that 61% of all adults have a smartphone and 94% have some type of mobile phone. Of course, we don’t actually talk on our phones. We send and receive an average of 764 text messages versus 164 calls sent/received on our phones. We use our phones for a variety of activities – email, music, shopping, location services and internet browsing.
Digital Children. Hilary DeCesare, a cyberbullying expert and CEO of kids’ social networking site Everloop, thinks in an increasingly digital world, it’s important to expose children to different technologies early so that they are prepared to adapt and thrive in more advanced professional settings. The digital expert thinks kids as young as 2 can benefit from tablet use, as long as the parent “is monitoring what [the] child is watching.”
Marketing to Women: Get Ready! New Face for Facebook!
March 9, 2013 § 2 Comments
When Facebook announced its new design for the Facebook newsfeed, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said it was their goal to to give everyone in the world “the best personalized newspaper.” Who is everyone? The 67% of online adults that use Facebook — 71% of women and 62% of men. Read on to see what it means for consumers and marketers.
What does this mean for consumers?
Larger Images. Well, it means there are larger images in your feed. According to Facebook, photos make up 50% of all news feed stories. So the new news feed takes up more of your Facebook page. They call it putting a spotlight on what friends are sharing. The shared articles also feature larger images and more information like longer snippets. Check-ins are also more visual with large map images, as is content from third-party sites like Pinterest.
Multiple Feeds. Content specific feeds will allow you to sort between a range of different categories: Close friends, all friends, music, photos, games and people and brands you “follow” (as opposed to friend). And you can still see the chronological news feed.
Continuity in Look across All Devices. Instead of a different interface on all media, Facebook has figured out how to incorporate the same look across smartphones, tablets, and laptops.
Okay, how do I get it? Well, there’s a site for that and it’s pretty simple. But don’t hold your breath, it’s a rolling conversion so you may have to wait awhile. First, go to facebook.com/about/newsfeed. Second, click the big green “Join Waiting List” button at the top of the page. Done!
What do marketers need to know?
Good news here: Ad Are Much Bigger! Even the sidebar ads look bigger. The larger canvas is good news for creative – but will it by annoying to users? It will need to be engaging.
New Opportunities for advertising. Promoted Posts, Sponsored Stories, and Page promotion ads can be visually engrossing - to flow with the rest of the news feed.
Filters for content are a question mark. Facebook says there’s been consumer demand for filtered content like photos and music. But will users use the filters.
If the filtered feeds are used, it could make for a splintered, hard to reach audience. If people use the feeds, it will fragment the audience. And, if they only use their friends feed, advertising will be lost to them.
Filtered feed might become sponsorship opportunities. No real news here but if the music feeds and other entertainment feeds take off, sponsorships might follow.
Marketing to Women: Get a Mobile Mindset for 2013
January 8, 2013 § Leave a Comment
Nielsen has released a new report containing facts on how US consumers use different forms of media and devices. The information on the top 8 activities performed on mobiles is fascinating, or at least I think so.
The top activity is texting, consuming 14.1% of our time. Messaging (texting, email and instant messaging) compose 14.1% of our time, or one-fifth of our time on our mobile devices. The lifeline for most of us is our texts and emails.
The second most consuming usage is social networks because we evidently all have FOMO (Fear of Missing Out), so we spend a whopping 10% of our time on social networks. Actually dialing someone up and having a conversation only consumes about 5.5% of our time. The other usage is consumed with browsing the internet, listening to music, using maps and our camera. The mobile usage differs from our computer usage – which is geared to a variety of other activities. One thing is the same – we spend a lot of time on social media. Computer usage of social media is 20.1%, versus 10% of our mobile time.
And in terms of usage, 56% of mobile users have smartphones. Eighty-five (85) million of us use social media apps on our smartphones, compared with 164 million have access to social media from their computers.
The bottom line is that each month, consumers are spending more time with more media, across all devices, and smart marketers need to understand the role of mobile in our daily lives. We use mobile to stay connected, to manage our schedules, and the shop. Some 78% of us use our smartphones to find a store, 63% check prices online and 22% comment on purchases.
Marketing Healthcare to Women: Go Mobile and Get ‘Appy!
December 9, 2012 § Leave a Comment
A hospital or doctor’s office seems like one of the least likely places to find use for a mobile app, but according to Trend Watching’s 10 Trends for 2013, “appscriptions” are the future for the healthcare and technological industries alike. Health care professionals are turning to mobile apps to help patients get and stay healthy, which is easier considering that there are more than 13,000 health related apps available in Apple’s app store alone. With this deluge of choices, Trend Watching suggests that in the coming year, consumers will turn to doctors to find the safest and best apps available.
The benefit is mutual. While consumers have convenient access to a wide variety of medical resources and information, the healthcare industry may see resultant reduced costs as patients live healthier lifestyles. Mobile apps have recently been popular for assisting with weight loss efforts, with apps that count calories, offer exercise routines, and track progress. But health apps are not limited to dietary relevance; this summer, Antibitoics Reminder hit the market at no cost, offering patients a convenient way to track their medication consumption.
According to Time magazine, the following health apps cap off as the “best of” various categories:
- Exercise: RunKeeper (tracks distance, time, and pace)
- Diet: Fooducate (offers nutritional information)
- Sleep: Sleep Cycle (helps improve sleep patterns)
- Weight Loss: Lose It! (monitors calorie intake and use)
- Health Care: ZocDoc (makes finding a great Doctor easy)
While mobile apps are clearly important in the health field, it is important to recognize the recent more general mobile app trend, in which consumers demand convenience and information at the tips of their fingers. If your brand is looking for a way to stay current and edge out the competition, ask yourself how a mobile app can bring your brand experience to the palm of your consumer’s hand. But consumers are discriminating and your app must
provide a real service they need. Smartphone users now have an average number of 41 apps — a rise of 28 percent on the 32 apps owned on average last year. Despite the rise in app numbers, the amount of time that people are spending in apps has remained essentially flat; they are being used for 39 minutes per day today, compared to 37 minutes in 2011.
Marketing to Women: Merry Mobile Christmas!
December 6, 2012 § Leave a Comment
Deck the halls with boughs of deals as the shoppers start out on their annual shopping sprees. Some 54% of mobile shoppers who have used a coupon on their device look to retailer websites for mobile coupons. According to Nielsen’s recent survey, retailer websites are followed by deal-of-the-day websites (such as Groupon and LivingSocial), retailer apps and third party websites.
The smartphones are leading the way in shopping navigation. According to Nielson, smartphone owners are dominating daily deal app usage, exceeding tablet users across all daily deal apps used. Groupon is the most widely used daily deal app among users of the apps, with 91 percent indicating that they have used the app on their smartphone and 60 percent stating they’ve used it on their tablet. Ranking second in daily deal app usage is Living Social (48% smartphone/29% tablet), followed by Google Offers (18% smartphone/9% tablet).
According to Nielsen, 63% of the smartphone users are using their phones to check prices, compared to 56% of tablet owners. A little more detail about the habits of smartphone mobile shoppers: looking up a store, used by 78% in this group, using them for shopping lists (40%), pre-purchase research (63%) and using a mobile coupon (39%).
Santa’s definitely mobile this year.
Marketing to Moms and Dads: iPhone and iPad Are Winning
September 5, 2012 § Leave a Comment
It finally happened. My husband is coming to the light. He is getting a new iPhone.
New iPhone May Look Like This
And it seems that he is not alone. While Android phones surged ahead last year, new research shows that iPads and the new iPhones are preferred for the end of the year.
Research from Yankee Group: ”A smaller percentage of consumers—only 39 percent of respondents who intend to buy a smartphone in the next six months—plan to buy one that runs Android, indicating that Android interest is flagging. Compare that with the 42 percent of consumers who plan to buy an iPhone in the next six months, and our landscapes suggest that Apple will see another record-setting launch this fall.”
In my humble opinion, there are many reasons that iPhones win. The integration with all Mac devices, the camera, Facetime, and iTunes are just a few. Since everyone else in the family has an iPhone, my husband is realizing how simple it is to be connected with his laptop and his family. Research from Techbargains.com says one in five users who identified as Android users plan on replacing their current handset with Apple’s next iPhone. The survey group of 1,300 indicated that most smartphone customers are seeking longer battery life, a faster phone, and 4G LTE wireless connectivity.
The new introduction of the sixth-generation iPhone is high anticipated. It’s the American way. Competition is good. And when it comes to tablets, here’s an interesting tidbit – for every Android tablet in use today, there are 6.6 iPads. eMarketer predicts the number of iPad users in the US will rise by over 90% this year to 53.2 million, as loyal users replace older models and new consumers purchase the device. eMarketer estimates more than half of tablet users this year to be men (54%), but by the end of the forecast period the gender split is expected to be even.
Marketing to Women: Showrooming and the Holidays
September 4, 2012 § Leave a Comment
“Showrooming” is all the talk among retailers as the holiday shopping season approaches. Showrooming is the practice of shopping in a physical store and then buying online. It has become a concern for retailers because of the proliferation of mobile devices that allow comparison shopping to be as near as your smartphone. A fact for those marketing to women: some 45.9% of online shoppers have engaged in showrooming.
Recent research by Exact Target says that 44% of customers use mobile to shop in-store, and a similar number (45%) said they would leave the store to buy online when the online price was 2.5% lower. At 5% lower, 60% said they would leave.
But retailers with mobile sites and apps should take heart. New research from Foresee surveyed more than 4,000 customers who had visited the top 20 retailers’ mobile site or used their app within a two-week period. Research showed that 59% of the mobile devices were being used from home and 16% while preparing to visit a store. Those most likely to use mobile sites or apps are those more familiar with the brand. So brand is still important no matter where the shopping is taking place.
What can a retailer do to prepare for this retail season?
1. Remember that your brand is still important. Many things make up a brand. A differentiated shopping experience is a draw to consumers. Unique product selection, smaller stores, unrivaled customer service, personal shopping, pick-up service, in-store demonstrations/classes and personalization can be important components of your brand. Target pushes its suppliers to offer exclusive products that can’t be found elsewhere. It also has quadrupled the number of items available online and is sending special coupons directly to customers’ mobile phones.Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is emphasizing in-store pickups for online orders—many available the same day they are purchased—allowing customers to avoid shipping fees. Lululemon offers a unique lifestyle brand.
2. Mobile, Mobile, Mobile. Do you have a website optimized for mobile? Do you have a full selection of your products and services online? If comparison shopping is going on, you must have a full complement of products for that comparison. Email and text messaging are strong methods of communication. Big box retailers like Target, Walmart and Home Depot are developing indoor navigation tools for shopping. Walgreen’s customers can make a shopping list and the items will be spotted in a store map.
3. Pricing and Value. Okay, so you know that the real competition is online. Is it all about pricing? Well, if your goods are not unique, curated to your shopper and part of a branded look and feel, then yes, it is all price. Online sales still represent only about 8% of total retail sales in the U.S.—but that is up from just 2% in 2000. Amazon ranked as the 13th largest retailer in the U.S., up from 19th one year ago. By the end of this year, retail analysts expect Amazon to rank 10th, replacing Best Buy on the top ten list. And Amazon prices are 9-14% lower than most retailers.
